FIFA thumbs-up for 'six-plus-five' player rule

Football's world governing body today voted in favour of the 'six-plus-five
rule', which would put a limit on the number of foreign players each team could
field.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has said he hopes the controversial rule will be in
place by the 2012/13 season.

His vision appears to be a step closer following the overwhelming backing at
FIFA's annual congress in Sydney, Australia.

The rule would limit every team to only five foreign players in their starting
XI.

The FIFA boss has pointed to the Premier League's dominance in this season's
Champions League as as example of why his organisation must implement the idea,
despite legal concerns from the European Union.

Stressing FIFA would proceed 'within the limits of the law', Blatter said
this week: 'It's to make sure that there is better balance in the competitions
and not only three or four teams in a league of 18 or 20 are fighting to be the
champion and all the others are just there to not be relegated.

'As (Newcastle manager) Kevin Keegan recently said: 'I can only start my
season to fight to be fifth or sixth or seventh. It is impossible for me to go
into the final four'.

'At the end of the Champions League in Europe you have in the quarter-finals
four teams of the same association; in the semi-finals three of these teams.

'Then in the final you are surprised that you have two teams of the same
association?

'We want to bring some remedies and this is the six-plus-five rule's
objective.'

Despite FIFA backing the plan, the European Union has already indicated it
would contravene European laws.

'We are giving the red card to the 6-plus-5 rule,' Europe's commissioner for
equal opportunities, Vladimir Spidla, said on Wednesday.

FIFA's controversial proposal is different from a 'home-grown players' rule
proposed by UEFA, European football's governing body.

UEFA defines 'home-grown players' as team members who, regardless of age or
nationality, have been trained by their club or by another club in the National
Association for at least three years between the ages of 15 and 21.

The Commission has approved the UEFA arrangement because, says Brussels, it
contains no player conditions based on nationality.

Spidla said: 'Compared with the intentions announced by FIFA to impose the
so-called '6-plus-5 rule', which is directly discriminatory and therefore
incompatible with the EU law, the 'home-grown players' rule proposed by UEFA
seems to me to be proportionate and to comply with the principle of free
movement of workers.'

After today's vote, Blatter told a press conference: 'Inside the congress of
FIFA today we had sunshine on different items, important ones.

'Because today we were somewhere in the crossroad between the interests of
clubs and national teams, and the congress of FIFA has given very clear
indications of where we have to go.

'Together with the chairman of FIFA's football committee, Mr Franz
Beckenbauer, and Michel Platini, we come to this resolution.

'The congress was very happy in a result of overwhelming majority, with 155
votes in favour and five against. 155 yes and five no.

'It is an overwhelming support to this resolution.

'The FIFA president has asked, together with the UEFA president, to explore -
and explore is not to discuss, it's to go in depth - within the limits of the
law.

'The application of such a system would start only at the end of 2010 and we
would start progressively with four, five and six.

'Even if it is necessary, because we have had Manchester United winning the
European Champions League with six players eligible for the Great Britain team
at the beginning of the match, so we are not far away.

'Chelsea had four. Zenit St Petersburg, when they played Glasgow Rangers, they
had up to seven. Glasgow had four or five.

'We are not far away from a situation.

'Speaking about it is illegal? For whom? For when? If there is a law, a law
can be amended.

'I have already now a meeting with the speaker of the European parliament -
chairman as we say, but you say in the British version, the speaker - on June 5
in the afternoon in Brussels, as he said, to explore now the ways.

'If he says to explore the ways, it's not to say 'stop it', so you see we're
on the right track.''